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After careful consideration I came to the conclusion that from all the possible methods of paint removing, good old sandblasting is it. There are few things in life that look as delicious as a freshly sandblasted body. Welding in this case was limited to very view spots at the front air inlets.

Rule number one, when doing a full body restoration: apply high quality tinning. Though it may take its time, it will certainly pay off by avoiding all kinds of problems that later would result from too thick layers of putty. Apart from that a ’65 car has truly earned some handcrafted quality.

Rule number two, when dealing with paint shops: let them use their own products from primer to gloss coat and don’t suggest them that you will care for the base coats. A proper color build-up calls for well matched paint components and if anything goes wrong, you’re not the one to blame.
My paint shop of choice recommended me to cover the whole car with the green stuff that you can see on the pictures. It’s chemically active and I don’t want to advertise it too agressively because it certainly plays on the unhealthy side of life. Drop me a note, if you want to learn more.

Rule number three: test-fit all the body work details and make sure they fall in place, otherwise you will surely scratch off some paint later on.